Ten major global companies have created “Together for Safer Roads,” a cross-sector coalition focused on improving road safety and reducing deaths and injuries by road traffic collisions around the world.

Road traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death worldwide and the number one cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds, according to the coalition.

The World Health Organization of the United Nations estimates that, absent intervention, this will become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030, surpassing diseases such as HIV/AIDS and diabetes, it added.

The tremendous human loss – approximately 3,000 people are killed each day – leads to major economic loss. The WHO estimates that road traffic collisions cost more than USD$500 billion per year or 1-3 percent of the GDP of the world’s countries.

A primary goal of the coalition is to foster cross-sector collaboration that helps identify and scale best practices on road safety, according to a statement issued by Together for Safer Roads.

“Members will work with a variety of stakeholders – employees, business, government and community partners – to implement activities that have a proven impact on improving road safety,” the coalition said.

“Together, coalition members employ over 3 million people and operate in 200 countries. Member companies’ fleets of cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles drive at least 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) each year,” it continued.

“Together for Safer Roads brings together global industry leaders, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, who believe business can drive change that will help reduce the number of deaths and injuries due to road traffic accidents,” said Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev and chairman of Together for Safer Roads.

Noting that these deaths are largely preventable, Brito emphasized that greater urgency is needed “to make roads safer for all.”

“Road safety is a growing challenge globally – and an even more pressing issue for developing markets like China, where AIG research shows that 40 percent of drivers have been driving for less than three years,” said Steve Miller, non-executive chairman of AIG and vice-chairman of Together for Safer Roads. “By combining our expertise, data-driven insights, technology and networks, we see great potential in our coalition to scale industry best practices and raise awareness of this major global health issue.”

Together for Safer Roads coalition members will be working in three core areas: 1) safer roads, vehicles and systems, 2) safer road users and 3) advocacy and thought leadership.

Future coalition efforts will include:

Benchmarking best practices that advance traffic safety culture among companies and partners

Convening stakeholders in key cities to focus on strategies for reducing fatalities

Identifying ways technology and data can support road safety

Advocating for more funding and support for country road safety initiatives

Raising overall awareness about this issue.

Source: Together for Safer Roads

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